Wedding Guest, from the series The Extended Wedding Party, 1994–1995

shoes, hat, queen bee excluder, bee blanket

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Since 1991 Aganetha Dyck has become recognized for her collaborative work with live honeybees. Working with several beehives located at the St. Norbert Arts and Cultural Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Dyck places her gifts of common ordinary objects inside each hive to be embellished with wax by her artistic partners. Relying on chance, Dyck does not intercede with her bees but rather responds to their creative embellishments. One of the most significant installations Dyck has created working with her bees is The Extended Wedding Party. This spectacular installation conflates the cult of the bride with that of the queen bee and the hive. Simultaneously macabre and beautiful, the work calls into question the feminine and masculine roles prescribed in rituals such as marriage, in contrast to innate biological impulses such as procreation.